Porsche 911 GT2 RS scores ‘Moby Dick’ livery

By Chris Thompson, 21 Jun 2018News

The livery from the classic Porsche 935/78 racer has been applied to a modern Widowmaker

The Great British Porsche arm, Porsche Retail Group, has revealed a special GT2 RS which has received the ‘Moby Dick’ treatment.

The classic Porsche Martini livery from one of Porsche’s 1978 Le Mans racer, the Porsche 935/78 nicknamed Moby Dick, has been applied to a new 991.2Porsche 911 GT2 RS, presumably for a customer.

But the special order car hasn’t just had some vinyls slapped onto it – Porsche says the GT2 RS has actually been painted specially.

The car even scores gold wheels to further emulate the style of the 935/78.

The car it’s inspired by was the culmination of a couple of generations of 935 racer. Based very loosely on the 911, it featured a widened and longer body, though the cabin of the 911 is still easy to pick, and of course it had the wing which earned it the Moby Dick nickname.

A twin-turbo boxer six-cylinder engine, which was water-cooled due to overheating and head gasket issues, produced a whopping 621kW. Porsche says (if this journalist’s German is up to scratch) that this makes it the most powerful 911 built by Porsche.

For Le Mans, it was made right-hand drive, as the track was run clockwise, and joined several other Porsche entries (both factory and customer) racing Porsche 935 and 936s, in both 1977 and 1978 specifications.

Moby Dick, driven by Manfred Schurti and Rolf Stommelen, was unique as the only 935/78. With its massive power and 1025kg kerb weight, it had the potential to dominate, though its engine problems persisted and it finished 8th overall.